08-05-2015, 02:28 PM
[#0000FF]Me and pa (fellow BFT tuber) went to the south marina at Willard on Tuesday. Sounds like the beginning of a down-south novel, right?
We got on the (low and murky) water a little before 7 am. Water level in the channel still about 7'. Water temp in the main lake 70 degrees. A lot of sevens there. That is a lucky number on the craps table but not always at Willard.
We had our excuses ready. Front (with a lot of rain) went through the day before. Still a bright moon after the recent full moon. Water level low and dropping. Water murky. Mostly poor fishing reports. Din't look good but we was desperate.
Got off to a bad start. Lee's electric motor din't wanna play. A pre-launch test revealed that it would only work on two reverse speeds. Wouldn't run at all in forward speeds. Not good. He left the motor behind and I towed him out to where we were planning to do most of our fishing. Oh yeah, I also towed him back in later. Leave no angler behind.
Saw lots of fishy marks in the channel but none of them had open mouths. Nary a tweak on bait or lures on the way out. Saw a solitary bank tangler near the entrance...fishing in the channel. He said he had one small channel cat...his only bite.
I dragged around a piece of perch meat...left over from our last trip to Starvy a couple of weeks ago. On my second rod I rotated through a bunch of different cranks, twisters and tubes. No inquiries on anything until after the sun climbed above the mountains...sometime after 8. Then the mini kitty brigade came in to play.
Had several frustrating pop and drops on the perch meat pizza...with bling beads. Then my rod with the hangershot rig (floating tube jig above a weight) took a dive and I was attached to a footlong spotted mini-cookie. (small Willard Bay cookie cutter cat) That was followed by a couple more. Better than a skunk...but not much.
Finally the larger cookies came out to join the fun. Got several on both the bling-bead perch meat and on several jigs. The white with a red eye was the most productive. My total for the day was 7 kept, of which 3 were about 20 inches and the rest between 16 and 18 inches...cookies. I probably released another 8 to 10 smaller ones. Hey...tugs is tugs.
Lee kicked around in a different area, fishing about the same 7-9 foot depths. He also scored a number of small cats. He reminded me that it was a nice day to be on the water...even if the fishing was not outstanding. That's what guys usually say when they get skunked...not after at least catching some small catfish.
The "wide open" bite just about stopped all together by 10:30...and Lee had a "call" from home about something he needed to be part of. So we made an early day of it. That's why I never carry a cell phone on a fishing trip.
No wipers, walleyes, smallies, crappies or carp were harmed in the making of this report. Dammit.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
We got on the (low and murky) water a little before 7 am. Water level in the channel still about 7'. Water temp in the main lake 70 degrees. A lot of sevens there. That is a lucky number on the craps table but not always at Willard.
We had our excuses ready. Front (with a lot of rain) went through the day before. Still a bright moon after the recent full moon. Water level low and dropping. Water murky. Mostly poor fishing reports. Din't look good but we was desperate.
Got off to a bad start. Lee's electric motor din't wanna play. A pre-launch test revealed that it would only work on two reverse speeds. Wouldn't run at all in forward speeds. Not good. He left the motor behind and I towed him out to where we were planning to do most of our fishing. Oh yeah, I also towed him back in later. Leave no angler behind.
Saw lots of fishy marks in the channel but none of them had open mouths. Nary a tweak on bait or lures on the way out. Saw a solitary bank tangler near the entrance...fishing in the channel. He said he had one small channel cat...his only bite.
I dragged around a piece of perch meat...left over from our last trip to Starvy a couple of weeks ago. On my second rod I rotated through a bunch of different cranks, twisters and tubes. No inquiries on anything until after the sun climbed above the mountains...sometime after 8. Then the mini kitty brigade came in to play.
Had several frustrating pop and drops on the perch meat pizza...with bling beads. Then my rod with the hangershot rig (floating tube jig above a weight) took a dive and I was attached to a footlong spotted mini-cookie. (small Willard Bay cookie cutter cat) That was followed by a couple more. Better than a skunk...but not much.
Finally the larger cookies came out to join the fun. Got several on both the bling-bead perch meat and on several jigs. The white with a red eye was the most productive. My total for the day was 7 kept, of which 3 were about 20 inches and the rest between 16 and 18 inches...cookies. I probably released another 8 to 10 smaller ones. Hey...tugs is tugs.
Lee kicked around in a different area, fishing about the same 7-9 foot depths. He also scored a number of small cats. He reminded me that it was a nice day to be on the water...even if the fishing was not outstanding. That's what guys usually say when they get skunked...not after at least catching some small catfish.
The "wide open" bite just about stopped all together by 10:30...and Lee had a "call" from home about something he needed to be part of. So we made an early day of it. That's why I never carry a cell phone on a fishing trip.
No wipers, walleyes, smallies, crappies or carp were harmed in the making of this report. Dammit.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
] Thanks for the report and update on Willard.